One Flesh, One Heart, One Soul
by Delay88
Summary: When the Red Wedding doesn't go as planned, Lannisters and Starks are forced to make an uneasy peace. Joffrey marries Sansa. Tywin marries Margaery. The game of thrones gains a new player - if she can conquer her own fears. But that isn't easy when your life and your soul are at stake. And it does not take long for Margaery to understand that in the end, you win or you die.
1. Prologue

On the seventh day of the seventh month of the new century, His Grace King Joffrey of the Houses Baratheon and Lannister wed the Lady Sansa Stark, ending the War of the Four Pretenders. In recognition of House Tyrell's significant contribution to the war, the Hand of the King, Lord Tywin Lannister, took the Lady Margaery to wife in a lavish double-wedding in the Red Keep.

While the young King tragically died of a fever only a few days after his own royal wedding, leaving the Lady Sansa a widow at the age of three-and-ten, the union between Lord Tywin and Lady Margaery proved to be more long-lasting.

Despite their difference in age, their marriage was a happy one. Concerns that the Lady Margaery might see herself in competition with Lord Tywin's first wife, the Lady Joanna Lannister, were soon laid to rest when the Lady Margaery named her only daughter Joanna in honor of her husband's beloved first wife.

Loved by the smallfolk for her tireless efforts to improve the lot of the baseborn, she became known as the Queen Without a Crown, for it was through her beauty and sweet temperament that she gently guided her lord husband in ruling the realm on behalf of young King Tommen and providing for even the lowest of the lowborn.

Her popularity was just as widespread among the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms. It is said that Lord Tywin, ever a hard man, mellowed under the influence of his young lady-wife and that many men who had displeased the Hand of the King owed their life to her, for she pleaded for mercy on their behalf and had their sentences reduced.

She even reconciled him with his heir, Ser Jaime Lannister, persuading him to renounce his position as captain of the Kingsguard and to take his rightful place as the heir to Casterly Rock.

When the pretender Robb Stark reneged on his promises made at the wedding of his sister Sansa and rose again in rebellion against His Grace King Tommen Baratheon, Margaery accompanied her lord husband on his campaign to the North, staying with him until the end when he succumbed to a flux in 304 AC at Karhold.

\- Maester Yandel, _The World of Ice and Fire_


	2. Margaery

Every last seat in the Great Sept of Baelor was filled. Some of the wedding guests were clad in the colors of their houses, but there were so many, Margaery recognized at best half of them. Her head was heavy from the pearls and stones braided into her hairdo, making it hard to move and forcing her to watch the proceedings from the corner of her eye.

A white raven had announced the beginning of winter just a few days past, but the skies were blue and the sun was shining, sending bright rays of light through the dome of glass and crystal above her head.

The High Septon was retelling stories from the Seven-Pointed Star, and at times, the people around her joined him in chants or prayers, but Margaery was too nervous to listen to the sermon, glad when it was finally over.

Her eyes briefly met Sansa's as the Stark girl walked towards the altar in her heavy samite wedding gown, clutching her brother's arm. For a moment, she feared the younger girl might faint. _She's terrified, and who can blame her? They are forcing her to marry a monster._

Sansa had begged Robb to turn down the peace pact, Margaery knew, but the Young Wolf had told her he had no choice: "The Lannisters saved my life. It would be a great insult to break the betrothal. They would go back to war with us. Don't you want peace as much as I do, Sansa?" _Such an easy thing to say_ , Margaery thought, _when you don't have to pay the price_.

The King stood in front of the wedding altar between the statue of the Father and the Mother, his lips twisted into a cruel, triumphant smile. _He must have forgotten that half of King's Landing heard him scream and shout with rage when they told him he had to marry Sansa after all._

Her own husband-to-be looked down on them like the Father himself, his face still as if carved of cold marble. The light falling through the colored glass right above him painted his bald head a dark shade of red. _The color of blood_ , Margaery knew. _As if the gods themselves marked him._ For a moment, all she wanted to do was turn around and run.

Nobody in the Seven Kingdoms ever mourned the passing of a traitor, much less that of a Frey, but the account of what had happened at the Twins had been gruesome enough to make even Olenna turn her face in disgust. _All at the command of the man I am to marry. I should have begged guidance of the High Septon when I still had the chance._ But to confide in a man appointed by the Lannisters was too dangerous.

Margaery took a deep breath, pushing the thought aside. _As long as I pray and keep my own heart pure, they gods will judge me justly_. The statue of the maiden was right behind her, and so was the crone, watching over her and showing her the way. _And my grandmother. Her most of all._

"Tell me, Margaery, what is your biggest strength?" She heard the Lady Olenna's voice in her head, remembering her grandmother's piercing eyes watching her through the mirror as her handmaid twisted her stubborn curls into intricate knots and braids.

Margaery had turned her face. The way the maid was pulling her hair made her eyes water, and she did not want her grandmother to think she was crying. "I am young," she remembered saying. "I can still bear children. Elsewise I am sure you would have married the man yourself and spared me the trouble."

That had made the old woman cackle. "Is that what you think? You believe I am sending you off to be a brood mare for House Lannister? No wonder you are so cross with me."

 _Am I angry?_ Margaery couldn't say. Her grandmother wanted only the best for her, but just like Robb Stark, she did not understand the true price of what she was asking. "What is it that bothers you, Margaery?" She would say. "Don't tell me you would sooner be wed to the man wearing the crown than to the person _ruling_ the man wearing the crown?"

"I would sooner _be_ the person ruling the man wearing the crown."

That put a smile on Olenna's face. "And you may be one day. But you still have not answered my question. What is the one thing that makes you stronger than everybody else?"

"My sweet wit, of course," Margaery said with a sigh. "I've been told my future husband loves nothing so much as a good sense of humor. No doubt I will charm him into doing my bidding."

"You're close. Think. Why would I wed you to a man thrice your age? Just to seal an alliance I cannot say I like much?"

 _She expects me to be her eyes and ears_ , Margaery suddenly knew. _She will return to Highgarden as soon as I am wed and needs me to keep an eye on a house she does not trust._

The crowd's cheers jolted her from her thoughts. Joffrey had wrapped his arms around Sansa's stiff body, kissing her.

Lord Mace Tyrell rose from his seat and offered his daughter his arm. Her legs felt heavy, every step almost painful as they walked towards. _He will be me and I will be him in the eyes of the gods._

Margaery raised her head as her father opened the clasp of her maiden's cloak of heavy green silk with flowers of cloth of gold and took another look at the unsmiling stranger who would soon be her husband. _What does he see? A sweet little thing? Used goods? A tool for a task?_ But he wasn't even looking at her as he wrapped his cloak around her.

"With this kiss, I pledge my love." A pair of thin lips briefly touched her own.

"One flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever," the Septon proclaimed.

The crowd below them was cheering. Margaery straightened her shoulders and gave them her sweetest smile. _People underestimate me_ , she thought. _That is what gives me an advantage. That's what makes me stronger than everybody else_.


End file.
